Tibetan teenager sets herself on fire today

December 22, 2014, 12:30pm – This report has been edited based on the most recent information.

Tseypey

Harrowing images and video have emerged from Tibet of the self-immolation of a 19-year old Tibetan woman today in the center of a town in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba), the Tibetan area of Amdo.

She was identified by exile sources as Tseypey, the fourth of six children from a family in Meruma township, and the same sources say that she died on the scene.

Tseypey was described by Tibetans who knew her as “well-behaved, honest and gentle”, according to Kirti monks in exile in Dharamsala. She had not received a formal education but grew up working as a herder with her parents. According to the same sources, her 60 year old father and 50 year old mother have reportedly been taken away by police, but it is not clear whether they have been detained. The video of the woman burning, with a voice in the background chanting prayers, has circulated on social media.[1] Images depict her body being taken away afterwards by police. According to other Tibetan sources in exile, internet access has been restricted in the area and local phones blocked since the self-immolation occurred.

A Tibetan father of two, Kunchok Tseten, set himself on fire and died on December 3, 2013 in the same town, Meruma, Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, sparking protests as local people tried to stop police taking him away after he collapsed in the road in flames. (ICT report, Tibetan father of two sets fire to himself in Ngaba).

A Tibetan man in his mid thirties named as Sangye Khar set fire to himself and died last week on December 16 outside a police station in Amchok, Sangchu (the Tibetan area of Amdo), according to Tibetan sources in exile. His body was taken away by paramilitary police despite protests from Tibetans, according to exile sources.

The self-immolation today is the 135th in Tibet and China since 2009. The images depict the burned body of the woman self-immolator, and the body being taken away by police.